Business Directories

Omantel Q1 net profit rises 18pc

Muscat, May 8, 2014

Oman Telecommunications (Omantel) reported an 18 percent rise in first-quarter net profit on Wednesday, beating analysts' estimates as wholesale revenue rose by nearly a third to offset declining text and international call income.

The former monopoly made a net profit of 34.4 million rials ($89 million) in the three months to March 31, up from 29.1 million rials in the year-earlier period, it said in a statement.

Analysts polled by Reuters on average forecast Omantel would make a quarterly profit of 29.3 million rials.

Omantel attributed the profit rise to a 29 percent increase in wholesale revenue, but did not provide further details.

The company is a partner in the Europe-Persia Express Gateway (EPEG), a mostly overland fibre broadband cable launched in December 2012 that runs about 10,000 km from Frankfurt to Barka, 80 km west of Oman's capital Muscat.